Happy anniversary

Time and place
New Zealand Annual Trade Tasting 2006
Lord's Cricket Ground, London NW1
Tuesday 17 and Wednesday 18 January
10am-5pm
Contact Alison Power at New Zealand Winegrowers
020 7973 8079

Event info
This year's tasting will feature a selection of gold medal-winning wines from the Air New Zealand Wine awards, while central varietal tables will focus on aromatics, red blends and Syrahs. On Tuesday 17 at 3.30pm, a seminar titled New Zealand Syrah - New World Fruit and Old World Structure', looking at viticultural and vinicultural influences and Hawkes Bay's dominance with Syrah, will be held in the Lord's Media Centre. Speakers include Steve Smith of Craggy Range, Kate Ormond of Te Mata, Anna-Barbara Helliwell of Unison, and Ronan Sayburn, executive head sommelier at Gordon Ramsay restaurants in London. Call Alison Power on the above number to reserve your seat.

Liberty Wines takes Grosset

Liberty Wines has taken over the distribution of famed Clare Valley producer Jeffrey Grosset.

Showcase Showdown

2005 is already a landmark year for the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC). In March, the company opened its new, customised premises in Dunsfold Park, Surrey, with a 25,000-bottle capacity and room for expansion.

IWSC trophy winners announced at Vinexpo

The International Wine and Spirit Competition used the opening day of Vinexpo earlier this week to announce the first round of Trophy Winners in this year's competition.

Taming the screw

Taming the screw: A manual for winemaking with screw caps, by Australian wine writer Tyson Stelzer, was due to be launched at the LIWSF this week.

Close combat

Let's begin with a rather stretched analogy. World War I was a terrible conflict that exacted a terrible human toll. Yet this otherwise disastrous war yielded a significant positive benefit for the aviation industry as both sides sought more effective warplanes to master the new arena of aerial combat.

SOUTHCORP REJECTS A$3bn FOSTER'S BID AS 'OPPORTUNISTIC'

ODDBINS WARMS TO COOL-CLIMATE OZ

By Josie Butchart

HESS: LEHMANN WAS WORTH OVERPAYING FOR

By Jack Hibberd

'INCREASE PLANTING', AUSTRALIAN PRODUCERS TOLD

By Jack Hibberd

NEW BAROSSA BARON

TROUBLE DOWN UNDER

By Jack Hibberd in London & Christian Davis in Australia

GROSSET RED UNDER STELVIN

ALLIED BUYS INTO PETER LEHMANN

LEHMANN WEIGHS IN WITH NEW RANGE

Bibendum's brave New World

Even more eclectic range with a tasting to match

Grenache ros from PLW

Peter Lehmann Wines is launching its Grenache ros into the UK for the first time.

Paul White replys to the AWRI

Before getting into a detailed discussion of the issues at hand, I'd like to address AWRI's complaint that Harper's and Scientifically Speaking have not rigidly followed academic scientific standards. Harper's is obviously not a peer reviewed scientific journal. It's a magazine focused on the wine trade and interested consumers. Given that audience, its primary task is to translate complex issues in a way that makes sense to its readers so they can make informed, rational decisions about wine related issues. Dressing Scientifically Speaking with snappy titles and headings goes a long way towards engaging readers' attention, not to mention keeping them from dozing off mid-paragraph. AWRI appear to have misunderstood the point of this and seem to have been a touch overly sensitive concerning choice of titles and section headings.

Wines in the Weekly Press

Financial Times
Riesling remains a favoured topic of JANCIS ROBINSON MW, but this time it's the turn of Australia, rather than Germany.

'Piety versus terroir' - by Max Allen

Terroir, according to Malcolm Gluck in his new book Brave New World, is twaddle. Well, I'm sorry, Malcolm, I just don't agree.